The Rise of the New Left

In her new book, The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics, Raina Lipsitz focuses on the new generation of young progressives but maybe more importantly, the organizers behind them. Lipsitz will be joined by some local young firebrands for a panel discussion about the book and the growth of political power here and nationally: District 8 Alder Juliana Bennett, District 16 Alder Jael Currie, and Nada Elmikashfi, chief of staff for state Rep. Francesca Hong, and an Isthmus contributor.

media release: A Room of One's Own is thrilled to host a panel discussion with author Raina Lipsitz, local elected officials Juliana Bennett and Jael Currie, and Nada Elmikashfi (chief of staff for state Rep. Francesca Hong).

Raina's book The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics will help guide and ground the discussion.

This is an in person event at A Room of One's Own.

About the The Rise of a New Left

The mushrooming rolls of the Democratic Socialists of America, Marxist explainers in Teen Vogue, and the outsized impact of the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all herald a new, youth-inflected radical politics.

The Rise of a New Left gets behind the headlines about AOC and her cohort of elected officials to tell the stories of the young organizers who created the Squad and the new social movements that have roiled US politics, from the DSA to the Sunrise Movement to Justice Democrats. Ranging across the country to describe grassroots organizing in places like rural Pennsylvania, upstate New York, Kentucky, Florida, and California, this book examines the panoply of strategies and struggles of activists working in—and trying to transform—electoral politics and the climate justice, racial justice, and labor movements. Alongside Ocasio-Cortez, we hear from the even younger Alexandra Rojas, one of the strategists who guided her political insurgency.

Propelled by scores of immersive and absorbing conversations on political strategy with young activists determined to reshape the country, this book—by a writer who is herself a member of this generational movement—is a riveting account of a resurgent left.

Raina Lipsitz is the author of The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics. She writes about politics and culture. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera America, The Appeal, The Atlantic, The Conversationalist, The Nation, and The New Republic, among other publications.

Jael Currie (she/her) is the District 16 Alder and current President of Madison's Common Council. Her lived experience as a born and raised Black Madisonian coupled with her educational and career experiences as a social service provider were the impetuses behind her decision to to run for elected office in 2021. Jael seeks to use her leadership and career to disrupt systems of oppression while also centering the experiences and voices of marginalized people. She agrees with the assertion, "The people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power." Jael is especially passionate about ending homelessness and the economic, political, social and cultural empowerment of Black womyn.